FORT SILL, Okla. (March 30, 2018) -- Editor's note: This is this first installment of a series discussing Healthy Army Communities and the Community Strengths and Themes Assessment.
In October 2017, Army organizations gathered at Fort Sill to discuss ways to align their efforts into a coordinated plan. After a weeklong stay, they identified issues and challenges faced by the installation and the Army as a whole. During a Healthy Army Community summit, Fort Sill military leaders, subject-matter experts, and civilians have come together to find creative solutions to promote healthy living across Fort Sill, and the surrounding communities.
"We do some things that are absolutely fantastic and that nobody else is doing, and I think that's a good start," said Maj. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner, commanding general of the Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill. "But I don't think we're at the point yet where we have adopted a culture of a healthy Army community and I think we can get there. And so the approach today is to pull together people that don't normally talk to one another and take one day, just one day, out of our schedule, and let's see what can be done."
The daylong summit took place at Snow Hall, March 15, and was designed to spur conversation on four topics: active living, healthy eating, sleep, and creating an enduring culture of healthy living.
After opening remarks, Brenda Spencer-Ragland, director of Family and Morale, Welfare and
Recreation, opened with an overview of the Healthy Base Initiative, a program bringing healthy living options to service members and their families. She presented data on lessons learned, recommendations, resources, and impacts. She emphasized the importance of patience.
"It took 30 years for us to get this fat," said Spencer-Ragland. "The solution is not going to happen overnight."
She went on to talk about Healthy Army Communities, programs in effect, opportunities, and challenges.
She said Fort Sill was in a "food desert," meaning access to healthy food options, to include restaurants, was sparse.
"If you want to eat healthy, Oklahoma is not the place to come," she said.
Organizations followed, giving a short presentation on their perceived gaps, their current programs and projected future plans.
The group learned about the commissary's efforts in moving toward a more cost-effective pricing and to include more house-brand items.
They also learned about efforts between AAFES and Reynolds Army Health Clinic and plans to work with the City of Lawton to create a healthy community.
The presentations were given with the purpose of providing a background of information leading to an afternoon of discussing solutions that can be accomplished in the next six months.
"We are confronted with the problem now," said Col. Todd Wasmund, FCoE and Fort Sill chief of staff. "We need to implement solutions now."
Among the possible suggestions voiced were for additional hours at fitness centers, for units to engage with local schools and to push fitness, to create more defined and well-marked bike paths and sidewalks, and to improving playgrounds.
However, leaders from the Directorate of Public Works said solutions would not materialize overnight. Even with the six-month deadline, some fixes would require additional research. Dan Wise, general manager for Fort Sill AAFES, said emphasis needs to be put on raising awareness of what is already available in terms of healthy eating choices and then making those choices. He believes healthy food choices are available, but they may require more work.
"We want to partner with Reynolds to highlight how to save calories and fat grams in items customers are already purchasing," said Wise. "We also want to highlight things on the menu that aren't up front, that might be on page two of the menu."
Even with on-post fast food sites, the more customers ask to customize their meals such as asking for a burger on a junior bun, omitting mayonnaise, or substituting a side salad for fries, the more the message of health is relayed to the operator, Wise said. Customer behavior, he said, influences the restaurant's service.
"If we keep buying the triple-decker burger, that's what they're going to keep offering," he said. "When we demand something healthier, (the business) will do it because they want to serve."
In addition to highlighting healthier options at existing restaurants, Wise said they also work with nationally recognized healthy-for-you restaurant operators to have them come to Fort Sill. However, he said while he can attract the restaurants, it requires votes from customers, in the form of dollars, to make them stay.
"The bottom line is, everyone wants to be healthier," he said. "We are looking for ways to do that."
Author's note: Follow along for the next installment of this series to learn about the Community Strength and Themes Assessment. We will dive into the results and find out what you, the community, said was the good, the bad and the ugly of Fort Sill and in turn, what Fort Sill is doing about what you said.
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